Jack Harvey inducted into CU Sports Hall of Fame

Dec. 9, 2012

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Coloradoan news services

Jack Harvey, a Fort Collins fixture for many years, was recently inducted into the University of Colorado Sports Hall of Fame for his basketball prowess.

Harvey, who passed away in 1981 at the age of 63, was a well-respected businessman, president of the Chamber of Commerce and served as mayor in the early 1960s.

Before making his mark in Fort Collins, the lanky center from Frankfort, Kan., put Buffalo basketball on the map.

“Harvey may have been the greatest basketball player in CU history. He earned more recognition for the basketball program and more personal accolades than any Buff,” said former teammate Bob Kirchner. “He was the outstanding college player of that era.”

As a sophomore, Harvey earned all-conference honors while leading Colorado to a tie for first place in the Big Seven basketball conference. That same season, Harvey and the Buffaloes finished second in the N.I.T. in New York. At the time, the N.I.T. was the most prestigious tournament in college basketball.

Harvey earned all-conference honors again as a junior and also was named to three different all-American teams. Harvey led CU to their first undisputed Big Seven title, establishing himself as one of the top players in college basketball.

Harvey saved the best for last. In his senior campaign (1939-1940), he was named to three different all-American teams and became the first player in Colorado history to be selected twice as a first-team All-American. No CU player has accomplished the feat since. Harvey’s relentless defense and offensive prowess helped lead the Buffs to a No.1 ranking, a feat that has not been repeated. That same year, Harvey and the Buffaloes won the N.I.T. with wins over DePaul and Duquesne.

In his back-to-back all-America campaigns (1938-39, 1939-40), CU posted one of the best two-season records west of the Mississippi, going 31-8. As a senior, he was fourth in the conference in scoring with 10.1 points per game.

His athletic career didn’t end after college. After CU, Harvey enjoyed success on the AAU level with the Denver American Legion team and the Denver Nuggets. He earned All-American honors with both teams in 1941 and 1942 before joining the Armed Services in 1943.

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Harvey was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.

As great a player as Harvey was on the court, it was nothing compared to the man he was off the court.

Byron “Whizzer” White, a former Supreme Court Justice and teammate of Harvey’s at CU who hailed from Wellilngton, described Harvey as a “Man of fine character, devoted to his family and his friends, as well as to the public interest.”

Harvey’s immense athletic success could only be overshadowed by the content of his character.

“Jack was so much more than a good athlete. He was a man of high intellectual capacity and curiosity,” said James Johnson, a friend of Harvey’s and a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives. “He took a fatherly interest in a young man whose father had died, and it was typical of his conduct that it was only by accident that I ever heard of it.”

Harvey’s modesty was what struck so many people. A classic example was how he attributed his athletic success to the fact that his ears were big and that they distracted his opponents.

“He could cast a fly as gently as anyone and shoot as straight as anyone, but the stories he told were generally about the fish he lost or the birds he missed,” Johnson said.

Harvey’s modesty struck people, but his humor attracted them. When one of his good friends was in the hospital awaiting surgery, there was a watch lying on the bedside table next to him. Jack asked, “Is this the best watch you have?” His friend responded, “Yes, why?” To which Harvey replied, “Well, if anything goes wrong, I want a memento, but I’d like something nicer than this old cheap watch.”

Harvey had a compassionate side as well. When his friend’s daughter had a tumor removed, he cried when he found out it wasn’t malignant. He was so happy that his friend’s daughter was going to be all right that he celebrated that night. The next morning when he woke up, he said he felt worse than if he’d had the operation himself.

Dynamic on and off the court, Harvey left a lasting impression on those he met.

During Harvey’s eulogy, Johnson said a fitting epitaph for his friend would be Hamlet’s remarks about his father, “He was a man; take him for all in all, we shall not look upon his like again.”

Harvey’s competitiveness and temper on the court, paired with his modesty and humor off the court, truly made him a unique man.